Want to Get Back Into Writing? 5 Exercises to Jolt Your Creativity

Write Down Your Dreams
Even if you don’t always remember what your dreams entail or you feel your dreams aren’t exciting, writing down your dreams can actually help boost your creativity. As an exercise, you can return to your notes later in the day and make an effort to translate your dream into something that makes narrative sense. Even if you don’t tackle this challenge, recording your dreams can give you inspiration for literary motifs and themes you can incorporate into your writing projects.

Revisit Past Projects
If you are trying to get back into writing, one of the first steps to get yourself moving is to revisit your previous projects. Doing so can remind you what you enjoyed about the practice and also give you a confidence boost when you read something that makes you proud. For writers who don’t have any pressing ideas or narrative threads they want to pursue, revisiting the older pieces, rewriting scenes, or simply writing within the world they created can help revitalize those old creative sensibilities.

Give Flash Fiction A Try
Even if you previously wrote longer works, nonfiction pieces, or poetry, writing flash fiction can be a great way to get your creativity flowing. There are very few rules for flash fiction, but the premise is simple: the pieces are short but complete. The challenge is both fun and time-efficient.

Reflect On Your Past
Drawing from your own experiences is a common practice for writers. You may choose to depict an event from your childhood in writing, or you may opt to take up journaling to get yourself writing again. Creative nonfiction may not be your preferred genre, but this is still a beneficial practice.

Draw on Writing Prompts
Nothing can help writers get started quite like a prompt can. The variety of prompts available is practically limitless, so you can search for visual, written, or even audio prompts to inspire you.